A BOOKLOVER'S UTOPIA

Review: A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

I had never heard about this book before I saw it in the book aisle of Target. The cover immediately caught my attention. It’s just so cute and girly and fun. I thought it would be a fast little read in between reading several different series.

I think the summary of the book on Goodreads really explains what the book is about without giving anything away. “The creative writing teacher, the delivery guy, the local Starbucks baristas, his best friend, her roommate, and the squirrel in the park all have one thing in common—they believe that Gabe and Lea should get together. Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop culture references, order the same Chinese food, and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush, it looks like they are never going to work things out. But somehow even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. Their creative writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Even the squirrel who lives on the college green believes in their relationship.

Surely Gabe and Lea will figure out that they are meant to be together….”

The other thing that intrigued me was that it is written in 14 different perspectives, none of which are the two main characters. It’s even written in the point of view of a squirrel and a bench. At first, I thought it might be a little too overwhelming to have so many different narrators, but the author made it very easy to keep up. Each time the narrator changes, there is a little subheading with the name of the narrator and who they are (for example, it would say “Catherine (barista)). My favorite narrators are the squirrel and the bench. It could have gone horribly wrong, but the narration is written in such a cute and funny way. I was pleasantly surprised that neither of the main characters ever narrated the story. It was new and refreshing.

In terms of plot, this book needs to be appreciated for what it is. It is not a deep, insightful book about our societal roles or anything like that. It is a simple, cute love story. It is funny and heart warming. The plot isn’t anything revolutionary, but it is well-written. This book is like a piece of plain milk chocolate. It isn’t fancy or elaborate. It’s just sweet and simple. If you really like books like Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, I think you will enjoy this book.

It is a fun, summer read and is a nice palette cleanser between books. I give it 3/5 stars. I don’t love it, but I did enjoy the story.